


The Devil in the Details

by Pidgeapodge



Category: Among Us (Video Game)
Genre: Aliens, Countries, Flags, Gen, Monsters, Murder, Murder Mystery, Mystery, Suspense, Vexillology, details, nationalities
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-06
Updated: 2021-01-06
Packaged: 2021-03-17 08:15:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,661
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28596822
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pidgeapodge/pseuds/Pidgeapodge
Summary: There is an impostor on board, maybe more than one. All the people around the table seem so normal, but Blue notices some details that are... off.The impostors can't get everything right.
Relationships: Blue & Black, Blue & Lime, Blue & Purple (Among Us)
Comments: 10
Kudos: 31





	The Devil in the Details

Blue was sweating in her suit. Someone… some _thing_ killed Lime.

Poor Lime. She was so innocent and bubbly, and now she was dead. She didn’t deserve it.

The remaining nine gathered in the cafeteria. They looked at each other nervously, but no one said anything.

At least one of them was the murderer. One of them, possibly more, was an impostor. And no one knew who it was.

Only Lime’s legs were found, resting in a pool of blood and gore. Yet, as Blue looked around, everyone’s suits were completely clean. Not a drop of blood to be found.

A chill went down Blue’s spine. She could be standing _right next to_ the impostor.

The captain, Brown, cleared his throat. “I understand this is a very stressful and difficult time, so soon after losing one of our own, but it’s clear that we can’t just stand around and do nothing. We need to find who the impostor is.”

Yellow pointed at Red. “I’m positive it’s Red,” she said. “He gives off a very suspicious vibe.”

“Oh, sure, blame the Red one!” said Red. “This is McCarthyism!”

Blue shot a glance at Red. The flag patch on his left arm was the flag of the United States of America.

“Red, you’re American,” said Purple with her lilting Irish brogue. “Wouldn’t it be more McCarthyism if you came from a communist country?”

Blue looked at the flag patch on her own shoulder: the Five-Starred Red Flag of the People’s Republic of China. She hoped no one on board was really a McCarthyist.

“McCarthy didn’t care if you were really a communist when he accused you—”

“Fascinating history lesson aside,” sighed Brown, “we can’t afford to get sidetracked. We need to figure out who the impostor is, and we need to figure it out ASAP.”

“You sure are talking a lot, Brown,” said Cyan. “How do we know _you’re_ not the impostor?”

Brown leaned back, affronted. “I am the captain of this ship!”

“Yeah, how do we know you’re not an infiltrator?” asked Yellow.

Brown gestured to Blue. “Blue and I were in medbay doing scans the whole time. She can vouch for me.”

Blue nodded, biting her lip.

Purple turned to Yellow. “You seem pretty quick to accuse people, Yellow. How do we know you’re not just trying to keep the heat off yourself?”

Red crossed his arms. “Yeah, Yellow. Where have you been?”

Yellow pointed a finger at Red. “That’s racist!” she screeched.

Purple looked between the two of them. “Erm… you’re both white…”

White stood up. “No, I’m White!”

“White, you’re black. You’re from Côte d'Ivoire,” said Black.

“No, you’re black, I’m white!” said White. “Don’t you have eyes?”

“Um, I’m Asian…” said Black.

Brown slammed a hand down on the table. “We are getting nowhere here! Everyone, on the count of three, say where you were at the time of the murder! One, two, three!”

Blue squeaked “Medbay!” as the others shouted their whereabouts. She could barely hear herself, let alone anyone else.

“Okay…” sighed Brown. “That was unhelpful…”

Blue fidgeted and looked around at her crewmates. Who was the impostor? Things had been going so well, she thought she knew them.

Her eyes caught on the flag patches that everyone wore. Red, Yellow, and Black were from the United States. Blue, Pink, and Cyan were from China. Purple was from Ireland. Brown was from England and spoke with a very posh accent. White was from Côte d'Ivoire. The late Lime was from Russia. Each wore a flag patch that showed their nationality.

Not many people knew this, but Blue was a flag nerd. She loved looking at flag design, seeing the symbolism that goes into it, seeing how it all looks when waving in the wind. She enjoyed it a lot.

So something caught her eye that might have gone unnoticed by anyone else. “Um… Yellow… why does your flag patch only have forty-eight stars?”

Yellow turned to look at Blue. “What did you say?”

Blue flinched, but pointed at Yellow’s left arm. “The flag patch. On your uniform. It only has forty-eight stars.”

Yellow angled her body so that her left arm faced away from Blue. “What were you doing counting stars when we’re trying to find a murderer?”

“I—I don’t need to count them. The current United States flag has fifty stars in a staggered formation. Before Alaska and Hawaii were admitted, the flag had forty-eight stars, and they weren’t staggered.”

Brown glanced at Yellow, then at Black. “She’s right. Red, could you turn around so I can see your arm?”

Red turned his left side to Brown.

“Hm… the stars are staggered here.” He turned to Yellow. “Yellow, would you care to explain why you have an outdated flag patch on your uniform?”

Yellow began to fidget. “Um… well… I…”

She suddenly pulled a gun from one of her pockets and levelled it at Brown. Red grabbed her arm and dropped to the ground, using his weight to wrench Yellow along with him.

Yellow made an inhuman noise, rolled over Red, got up, and threw him against the wall. The arm she was using to hold the gun elongated into a tentacle.

Yellow roared, with both her human mouth and the giant, snaggle-toothed maw that opened across her chest.

Blue ducked under the table, cursing. _This is not what I signed up for!_ she thought.

“Grab the gun! Grab it!” shouted Red.

_BANG! BANG!_

Blue dared to peek up from the table. The gun smoked in Black’s hands, pointed at a prone Yellow. Yellow continued to growl and groan, but she didn’t get up. Black blood leaked out from under her.

Through the visor of Black’s helmet, Blue saw tears slip down his face.

“Get her to the airlock!” shouted Brown. Red and White grabbed the snarling thing on the ground and began to drag her towards the airlock to be jettisoned.

Black was shaking now. He slowly lowered the gun. Blue lightly took it from him and placed it on the table, then placed a hand on Black’s shoulder.

“I’m sorry,” she said to Black.

Black nodded, then wrapped Blue up in a tight hug.

“I thought… I thought I knew her…” Black wheezed.

Blue pat him on the back, shushing him. “It’s alright. Let it out.”

Black squeezed Blue even tighter, and Blue’s heart squeezed for him. She couldn’t imagine the pain Black was going through. To think someone you really thought you knew was a murderer… a monster…

Blue swept her eyes around the room. Brown was rubbing his helmet. Purple was approaching her and Black to offer some comfort. Cyan was peeking up from under the table, where Pink was sitting looking mostly unaffected…

Wait…

Why wasn’t Pink reacting at all? Surely he would have tried to get to safety when Yellow revealed her true, monstrous form.

Blue gently broke the hug and allowed Purple to offer her condolences. Blue looked at Pink again, and made her way over to him.

She glanced at the patch on his arm again. The Chinese flag. It was a long shot, but he was acting strangely, and if the wrong details on Yellow's uniform could expose her…

Blue squinted, and her breath caught. She snatched the gun off the table and pointed it at Pink.

“PUT YOUR HANDS IN THE AIR!” she screamed.

“Blue, what are you doing?!” shouted Brown.

Pink glanced at Blue, but did not raise his hands.

“I SAID, HANDS IN THE AIR!”

“Blue!” shouted Purple.

“He didn’t react… his flag…!”

Pink arched his eyebrow. “Yes?”

Blue swallowed. “Captain… Pink didn’t react at all to Yellow’s outburst or her killing… plus, his flag is wrong. I think he’s an impostor too!”

Cyan looked at Pink’s left arm, then at Blue. “It looks fine to me!”

“Holding the gun in her right hand, Blue twisted her left arm to show off the flag patch. “It’s subtle, but the small stars should all rotate so that one point is pointing directly at the big star. The stars on Pink’s patch are in an arc, but they all point straight up.”

Cyan turned and squinted at Pink’s patch, then scrambled away. “She’s right!”

Brown also squinted at Pink’s arm. “Cyan, could you please show us your flag patch?”

Cyan twisted his left arm to show off the patch. Blue’s crewmates moved closer to him and squinted. Brown turned to Pink.

“She’s right, Pink.”

Pink smiled. “Oh, well. I had a good run.” Without warning, his chest opened up, showing rows of sharp teeth.

Some deep, primal part of Blue’s psyche made her jump to the side before she even realized what was happening. She felt a blow like a punch on her left shoulder as she got wrenched backwards. Blue looked down at her shoulder, and followed the long pink spike back to where it was coming from Pink’s horrible chest mouth.

“Blue!” shouted Black.

Blue pointed the gun at Pink and fired.

_BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!_

Most of her shots missed, going wide, but one hit Pink in the stomach, and one in the helmet. Pink retracted his tongue-spike, and Blue fell forward on her face. Black and Purple rushed to her side, and she heard Pink laugh.

Blue raised her head to look up at the monster, and it looked back at her.

“Nice try, _Xiǎo Lán_ ,” said Pink out of his chest-mouth. Blue could see that the shot to the helmet actually hit him between the eyes. The wound was bleeding sticky black blood, but he didn’t seem any worse for wear. “But I’m afraid I’m gonna have to kill you now.”

Black grabbed the gun out of Blue’s hand and opened fire.

_BANG! BANG! BANG!_

Two of the shots hit Pink’s thighs, while the third hit him in the chest above his grotesque mouth. Pink screeched as he fell forward, and Red and White came charging into the cafeteria.

“Another one?” shouted Red.

“Get him to the airlock!” commanded Brown.

Red and White grabbed the impostor, who thrashed as they dragged him away.

“No! Nooo!”

“Black, Purple, get Blue to medbay,” said Brown. Blue remembered that she got stabbed in the shoulder. As the adrenaline wore off, she felt the piercing sting of the stab wound fade into her awareness.

Black and Purple helped her to stand up.

“It’s okay. We’ve got you,” said Purple. Blue loved Purple’s accent, and her soothing voice made her feel better. She glanced at Purple’s flag patch.

Green, White, Orange. The correct order of the colors for the Irish flag. White and Red came back, covered in black, sticky blood. Blue craned her neck to make sure, but relaxed when she saw that White’s flag patch was Orange, White, Green, the correct order for the flag of Côte d'Ivoire. They could be easily confused, and impostors might not get them right, but Blue felt safer knowing that they _were_ right.

“ _Xièxie_ ,” breathed Blue as Black and Purple guided her to medbay. One they arrived, Purple sat her down on the table.

“Black, I’m gonna ask you to leave while I treat her shoulder. Blue, you’re gonna have to take your suit part way off for this.”

Blue looked up. “Um, can he stay? I mean, turn around, obviously, but… I feel better with two people in here than one.”

Purple looked at Blue with sympathy in her eyes. “Of course.”

Black, like a gentleman, not only turned around, but grabbed one of the blankets from the closet and draped it over his helmet to further assure Blue that he wasn’t peeking. Blue took off her helmet and unzipped her suit, and Purple helped her slide it down from her shoulders. The fabric felt strange peeling off of her wound, and Blue knew she would need to change both her ruined suit and her bloodstained bra after she was all patched up.

“So, um… thanks, Blue, for saving us,” said Black.

Purple nodded as she began to clean the wound. “If it weren’t for you, who knows how many people would have died.”

Blue bit her lip. “I… I couldn’t save…”

Purple made shushing noises and she wiped away the blood and sanitized the wound. “It’s not your fault. None of us knew what to look for.”

Tears slipped from Blue’s eyes. “B-but Lime could s-still be—”

Purple angled Blue so that they were making eye contact and stroked her face. “It. Was. Not. Your. Fault,” she enunciated clearly. “It was the impostors’ fault. And we already took care of them, so don’t you worry one bit.”

Blue nodded, trying to hold back tears.

“Go ahead and cry, if you need to. Let it out.”

Blue let the sobs come as Purple bandaged her up and hummed an Irish lullaby. By the time Purple tightened the last bandage, Blue had calmed down a little. Purple wrapped her in a gentle hug.

“Make sure to take it easy, and drink lots of water and eat some iron-rich foods for the blood loss,” said Purple as she pulled away.

Blue nodded her understanding.

“I’ll get you a new suit and some new underwear, and you can change out of that,” said Purple. “I’ll be right back, okay?”

Blue nodded again. Purple left the medbay.

“So, um, Blue?” asked Black, still turned away and under the blanket.

“Yes, Black?” asked Blue.

“I’m curious… how do you know so much about flags?”

Blue bit her lip again. “I— I kinda just enjoyed looking at stuff about flag design, you know? Vexillology, that’s what it’s called. And I just kinda picked it up.”

“You never mentioned it before,” said Black.

“I dunno, it’s kinda weird to start a conversation with ‘Hi, I like flags!’ y’know?” said Blue. “The only person I really told was… was…”

“Lime?”

Blue nodded her head. “Yes,” she whispered.

“Were you two close?”

“She was my best friend on the ship.”

“I’m sorry,” said Black.

Blue didn’t say anything, she just let her new tears fall.

Purple came back holding a folded-up spacesuit and underwear set. “Here you go, Blue, just get changed into this. Let me know if you need any help.” With that, she turned around to give Blue privacy.

Her injury flared with pain as she changed, but Blue just hissed and worked through the pain. “All changed,” she said when she was done.

Black and Purple turned around, and Black took the blanket off his head.

“If you need anything, and I mean _anything_ ,” said Purple, “you come right to me. Don’t you dare try to go through this alone. We’re teammates, we’re friends, and we’re here for you.”

Blue couldn’t say anything, so she wrapped Purple in a one-armed hug. She choked out, “Thank you.”

“ _Búkèqi, Xiǎo Lán. Bié dānxīn_ ,” whispered Purple.

Blue stepped back. “You know Mandarin?”

Purple shrugged. “I figured some of my teammates were from China, so I got Duolingo. Now I've got a hundred-day streak and I’m not gonna break it.”

For the first time since the ordeal started, since she received news of Lime’s death, Blue laughed. It started with a giggle, but when Purple started laughing too, she couldn’t control herself. Soon, she had to lean on Black in order to stand up.

Black seemed very confused, looking between Purple and Blue. He cleared his throat.

“Um, just wondering… I hope it’s not rude… what does Shau Lan mean? I think I heard you and Pink say it…”

Blue took off her helmet to wipe her tears, then looked at Black. “Not ‘Shau Lan,’ it’s _Xiǎo Lán_. It means ‘Little Blue,’ it’s like a nickname.”

Black blinked. “Oh. Well, it’s, um, it’s… very cute…”

Blue started giggling again, and the three of them left the medbay. Things weren’t the same anymore—how could they be, after all—but she felt happy to know that she had such good teammates looking out for her.

**Author's Note:**

> I thought how cool it would be if the impostors got little details wrong. Nothing major, just little details that would escape most people's notice. 
> 
> I myself am a flag nerd, like Blue, so that's what I decided to go with.
> 
> A Chinese flag with un-rotated stars actually did cause controversy during the 2016 Rio Olympics. The organizers used an incorrect Chinese flag. 
> 
> In case my descriptions of the flags weren't clear, see the images below:
> 
> I hope you enjoyed! Please let me know what you thought! Comments and kudos are appreciated! :D


End file.
